N.N. Volkov, Jr. was born in Odessa (now Ukraine). He graduated from the Odessa Art College (1956), and the Boris Shchukin Theatre College (1962).
From 1956-1958 – director’s assistant at the Odessa Television Studio.
From 1962-1987 – actor at the Moscow Drama Theatre on Malaya Bronnaya, in Moscow.
From 1987 onwards – actor at the Moscow Academic Drama Theatre, named after V.V. Mayakovsky.
From 1984 onwards, he taught at the Shchukin Theatre College.He passed away on 10 November, 2003 on the same day he was discharged from a Moscow hospital with acute, sudden-onset leukemia.